Wiranto rights trial unlikely

Wiranto rights trial unlikely

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

East Timor Attorney General Longinus Montero said on Sunday the
trial of former Indonesian Military chief Gen (ret) Wiranto for
his alleged role in crimes against humanity and war crimes in the
former Indonesian province might not materialize due to lack of
evidence.

Although prosecutors have submitted additional evidence to
support Wiranto's indictment, Montero acknowledged it would not
provide the Dili District Court a breakthrough to try Wiranto.

"As a prosecutor, I hope the court will accept the indictment.
However, if the court refuses it I already have an answer for the
public," he said on the sidelines of a visit here.

If the court rejects the indictment, East Timor state
prosecutors would no longer continue to level charges at Wiranto
with regard to gross human rights violations that occurred before
and after a UN-sanctioned ballot that resulted in a unanimous
vote for independence in 1999.

Montero said previously that prosecutors had, in February 2003
and January 2004, tried to take Wiranto to court for similar
crimes. The judges threw both indictments out, claiming that the
prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence to support
the serious accusations.

Prosecutors resubmitted the indictment for the third time in
February this year.

Despite his pessimism, Montero claimed he had done his best.
He said the latest indictment against Wiranto was supported by
accounts from some 1,500 eyewitnesses and data from numerous
important documents.

Wiranto's case is among 1,041 rights abuse cases currently
being investigated by the East Timor Attorney General's Office.
They are all related to a wave of violence that erupted in 1999.